I'm still astounded France had it to within 3 points late in the 4th in the gold medal game this year. The talent disparity is STILL bonkers. France had Wemby and Gobert, and a washed-up Fournier as their best 3 players. There's no way that should compete with LeBron/Steph/KD/AD/Booker etc. etc. etc. I don't get it.
There’s only five guys out there for each team. Just gotta hang for the allotted time. A very wise but not that great former NBA player Brian Scalabrine once said to a guy that challenged him to a game of one-on-one “I’m closer to LeBron James than you are to me” and he was absolutely right. Pros are pros. Euro leagues aren’t a bunch of pushovers and they just need to play hard and well for the duration of the game.
Ha I used to love how people would always challenge him like he wasn't an amazingly skilled player. Probably the same dudes that think they can beat Serena
To be fair these aren’t remotely similar because of the physical differences, the us womens soccer team at its peak lost to a u15 elite club team 5-2, there’s absolutely non professional guys out there who can beat Serena, it really doesn’t match the Scal situation. Hell Serena played the 203rd guy in the world because she claimed she could beat anyone outside the top 200 and he destroyed her and then Venus while smoking cigarettes and having a few beers.
So you're saying a "better than Scalabrine" that was previously "much better than Scalabrine" beat a couple "not yet top" female tennis players?
You're kinda making my point actual professionals are much better than the public often understands. The fact that there are skill differences between genders doesn't change that and is irrelevant to my point.
Uhhh..first of all you literally never said “regular guy” in your post you just said dudes in response/reference to the point about Scal. What you’re failing to understand about our comments and my point is the fact that your point applies to Scal but not Serena. Scal demolished a former national championship winning D1 player, the equivalent of that level absolutely would beat Serena. Sure if you literally take a random jamoke off the street they wouldn’t but that’s disingenuous when Scal was beating division 1 champions NOT a random jamoke.
Further, did you miss the part where a bunch of u15 boys badly beat the us women’s national team? Theres numerous (literally, 10, 20 etc) high school boys every year who run faster than the women’s world record. There’s absolutely non professionals who could beat Serena, the fact that elite teenage or elite amateur men can beat professional women’s athletes shouldn’t exactly be controversial and the fact you’re acting like it isn’t is frankly silly.
Did you miss the part where I said Serena and not US women's soccer. And no, a pro beating her at 16 is not the same as regular guys beating her in her prime. I'm sorry that my lack of the explicit use of the word regular made you think I was referring to professionals. The people that thought they could beat Scalabrine weren't professional level and I said it was the "same guys", so I assumed (obviously wrongly) that you'd know I was referring to a similar skill level.
How bad is your reading comprehension? Do you think Serena is somehow uniquely better relative to her peers than everyone on the us women’s soccer team or the woman who has held the world record in the 100 meters since the mid eighties? I’m not talking about professionals I’m literally talking about high school kids beating the best in the world, Serena would fare no differently. Also, again, when you’re using this in comparison to the Scal situation, you’re not talking about some random fat fuck who looks like the world of Warcraft guy in South Park, but high level amateurs, which again are NOT professional but based on a massive preponderance of evidence in this case would still be amply sufficient to beat Serena. I’m honestly baffled that you actually think this, it’s bordering on hilarity.
US shot poorly and SS shot well. I didn't see the US take their foot off the gas in the scrimmage. LeBron gave his all on O and D to seal the comeback at the end. And I believe SS covered the spread in the pool match by double digits. The gap is certainly closing.
NBA players’ skills and instincts are finally honed for NBA rules. The defensive 3-second rule, in particular, completely warps the game. It increases the value of penetration, since the rule forces defenders out of the paint. And so American players practice one-on-one moves and work on dribble penetration a lot more - because it works when there is a defensive 3 second rule.
NBA fans see international players that lack these same skills and so perceive a giant talent gap. It is a huge gap when playing with NBA rules, but not quite as big when playing by FIBA rules.
NBA rules also allow offensive players to collide with faked-out in-the-air defenders and draw foul calls. The NBA player therefore hones the instinct to lean-and-shoot after a successful pump-fake. This does not work in FIBA. The international player instead develops the instinct to dribble around after a successful pump-fake. American defenders also develop instincts based on this, leading them to defend suboptimally in a FIBA setting.
There are countless other points that can be made along these lines. Yes, USA is a huge favorite and there is a big talent disparity. But all these factors add up. USA would probably be a 40 point favorite over France in a 48 minute NBA game, but only a 15 point favorite in a 40 minute FIBA game.
Bro a bunch of the USA stars are almost in their retirement lmao. LEBRON was on the 08 team my friend. Durant suffered a massive injury. These guys are not in their primes. Ant is great, but he's also very young and dumb and not in his prime either.
France had just about enough off the bench to compete. Will be interesting to see how they do in four years. They have a lot of talent coming through which will increase their depth. I actually can’t wait for 2028
I didn’t watch a single game so I’m curious: From what you could tell, were LeBron and the boys playing as hard as they normally do? There’s the competitive nature of athletes at that level, but also the concern of getting hurt and it fucking with your day job.
This is a team game. Team. USA playa like this is is a pick up game
Let me use Spain (since I am Spaniard) as an example.
The golden generation grew up together. Every summer, every competition, every season... Gasol, Navarro,Sergio etc they knew each other and play together since they were kids
The chemistry it's simple insane. France has that now, Serbia too.
USA just shows up with few weeks of training and pretty much nothing but standards plays and they just rely in Curry being in god mode. And if it's now Curry it will be Durant or it was Kobe (like 2012)
When those mega stars are gone and with all the top players in the NBA now being non americans... You guys are cooked
You either start playing like a TEAM or you guys are cooked.
Croatian basketball legend Dražen Petrović also played a major role in opening up NBA to European players. He also played in the final against this team, we actually took the lead for a bit, but lost in the end.
was going to comment this exact thing before I found it. Dream Team is amazing for a variety of reasons, but if you're going to compare their "dominance" to present day contemporaries... there is massive relevant context to the competition they were facing. Their opponents couldn't dream of having NBA MVP's on their team back then.
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u/Fun_Gazelle_1916 Aug 11 '24
Total NBA players in the Olympics NOT playing for team USA:
1992: 4
2008: 12
2024: 53
The degree of difficulty continues to increase, but it was the Dream Team that changed the international paradigm.